Production Management for Television (2009). Mitchell, Leslie. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. pp. 115.
Journalism and communication education focus on developing student’s skills and practices, but there is a gap between classroom teaching and media operations. Leslie Mitchell, a senior teaching fellow at Stirling University and author of Freelancing for Television and Radio (2005), utilizes his vast professional experience to blend basic theories with practices and ethics.
As a book in the Media Skills series, it is comprised of three parts: Mitchell’s first section introduces the fundamentals of production management from a career focus. The author suggests that “coordination” is “the crucial word” because of the nature of the tasks (p. 10). Production management involves oversight of budgets, workplace safety, legal constraints, and much more. While Mitchell acknowledges that “education is probably more important than qualification,” he generalizes this to “an ability to think clearly, to look for information… along with a good range of interpersonal skills” (p. 16). As such, he quotes the BBC: “Trainees are recruited according to their talent, potential and passion to achieve great things with us, rather than their formal academic backgrounds.” So, having studied, Mitchell writes, could be more important than the subject. Still, he concludes that a media degree is not essential, but it does have “some clear advantages”—knowledge of media industries, influences, and techniques (p. 17).
In the second part of the book, Mitchell focuses on those skills and techniques. The inexperienced production manager should “listen carefully,” and he emphasizes learning through interpersonal communication with others (p. 21). The process requires time management skills, but Mitchell admits these do not relieve job stress. He favors use of lists that prioritize tasks, which include review and revision. Students thriving on the creative process may be surprised that he devotes an entire chapter to the budget, but this will appeal to those instructors and programs requiring quantitative analysis skills. Likewise, the scheduling chapter depicts spreadsheet examples. The health and safety management chapter, while addressing important principles, draws from structures and regulation in the United Kingdom, so one could imagine a classroom assignment to apply this to conditions in the United States or elsewhere. A law chapter that follows has the same limitations and opportunities.
In the third part of the book, Mitchell applies his belief that orderly processes produce better programs than those emerging from chaos. Thus, pre-production—development through research, an outline and plan for pitching program ideas—precede important details. The successful production manager will also be dealing with budgets, purchase orders, insurance, scripting, equipment, crews, and risk assessments. Mitchell’s book ends abruptly with a post-production chapter that runs just over two pages. Compared to other broad media management texts, the book is brief.
Mitchell’s book is easy to understand. Every section of the book has important pedagogical tools: a quick start definition, introduction, summary points, and tables. There also are a lot of useful references and further information at the end, including a glossary and index. Production Management for Television helps raise awareness about the importance of production management, and it will promote discourse about careers in the field. This might encourage some young people to pursue production management as an interesting career. At the same time, the book is the core resource for production management and should be helpful to busy media people.
ZHANG JIANKANG
ZheJiang University City College